Twelve months on from the highly acclaimed Bright Sparks meeting, this year's follow-up event again encompassed the right spirit to be expected from a fun day, which more than lived up to its billing as An Old Skool Smash Up. Not even the late afternoon and early evening rain could dampen too much of the enthusiasm for a hugely enjoyable event.
Bangers
An outstanding entry of 90 drivers packed into the pit area, with an array of old and unusual cars, and a veritable deluge of smartly presented cars. The judges had their work cut out to identify winners of the many bonus categories. Here's a detailed resume from Bangers Down West.
Despite the drizzly weather trying to dampen spirits, 93 cars turned up to create More Sparks in memory of the late 248 Jon Sparks. As Jon would have doubtless wanted, there were a plentiful amount of weird and wonderful cars, so much in fact that I could arguably do a whole page just telling you about them all! Top cars came in the form of 58 Paul Rubery’s rusty Standard, 154 Błażej Szczygiel’s Triumph Toledo, 662 Jared Roe’s Triumph 1500, 31 Liam Shipway and 198 Owen Nichols both had smart Austin Maxis, 246 Ryan and 247 Richard Sparks had stunning Cortinas, whilst 81 Gary Emery, 278 Shaun Brokenshire and 881 Caitlin Emery all had Volvo 340’s, and 991 Ben Hale turned out a very smart Ford Sierra Estate. Shout out to 841 Tom Perkins, who’s Nissan Serena claimed the cherished Worst Car Award.
Heat one was for the older cars, although the red flags came out early when 58 Paul Rubery’s Standard decided to become a three wheeler! The restart was full of drifting and donuts, but 743 Jake Bond kept it steady and took the chequered flag. Heat two featured more of the modern stuff, and was just as chaotic as the last race, with 595 Ben Wall picking up the win as the rain got worse. Heat three carried on the chaotic nature of the meeting thus far, with cars all over the shop as the rainfall continued. But it was 523 John Swanborough who drove a great race to take the win.
With Heat four, the action got turned up to 11 when an absolutely stunning jacking train formed on turn 1, after 726 Lewis Senford annihilated 991’s Sierra Estate, 493 Mark Powell joined in which left him open to a shot from 881 Caitlin Emery, then 278 Bean came round and blew up 881’s Volvo, 932 Liam Thorne was next to join in when he snapped 278’s Volvo off, 81 Gary Emery and 246 Ryan Sparks were next in line. And then, the biggest talking point of the meeting occurred when 142 Tyler Brownless leathered the 246 Cortina, sending all four wheels off the ground! 247 Richard Sparks quickly came round to get revenge by blitzing 142’s Micra. 458 Layton Mush survived the chaos and took the win.
Heat 5 was just as brutal, with a pile-up forming immediately on the pit bend. Some truly hard shots were being dished out, highlight being when 360 Jackstar shortened 999 John Glover’s Honda at full throttle. Meanwhile, The Dingles and TLI were all hitting anything they could find, and to the surprise of a few, 841 Tom Perkins’s Serena was producing some big shots too! 890 Pavarotti took the win, and to celebrate, blitzed 662 Jared Roe’s Triumph on his rundown lap.
The Final started once again with a pile-up on the pit bend, however this time drivers were able to get around it which created a decent race for the front runners. 31 Liam Shipway wasn’t focused on rodding though in the Maxi, as he picked up 113 Aaron Brown and sent him round the plating. 272 Robert Ross took the win ahead of 746 Deejay Tyler and 260 Keith Reynolds. Before the reds came out, a stellar jacking train formed after 146 Dan Wigman put a shot in on 363 Sam Trim, with more joining shortly after, the train soon being capped off beautifully with 360 Jackstar obliterating 459 Mitch Brooks.
The Allcomers featured another jacking train on turn one, 246 Ryan Sparks in his poorly Cortina blew up 272 Robert Ross, before getting blitzed once again, this time by 775 Joshua Collins. The action continued as 146 Wiggy went in hard on 842 Perkins, then 702 James Dodge put a shot in on 768 Tyler Cock, with the red flags coming out shortly after. The restart was still lively, 360 Jackstar jacked up 31 Shipers’ Maxi, before race leader 146 Wiggy sent 360 round with a shot. 146 Wiggy took the win soon after.
The DD somehow raised a fair few cars, although once again, most didn’t last long! 842 Jack Perkins kicked things off with a head on to 788 Darren Morgan on pit bend, before 717 Donna-Marie Cottrell gave the latter a stiff head-on. 386 Ryan Wagstaffe decided to join in with a shot on 717, which gave 31 Alfie Rogers the chance to leather 386 Wagstaffe at warp factor 9, this triggered a lovely jacking train to form after 272 Ross, 966 Softboy and 360 Jackstar all joined in. This, however, put Jackstar in a bad place, with his already snapped Carina (borrowed from 222 Butler) getting further snapped by 652 Kristian Gale (in a Matiz of all things!) and 890 Pavarotti, which brought out the reds. The restart came down to 412, 644, 652, and 890, who all exchanged head-ons with each other. But none of them could outlast 644 Alfie Sime’s Corsa, with the furthest traveller taking the DD honours to round off a truly fine meeting that would have made Jon Sparks grin from ear to ear!
Special Rods
The Special Rods made their annual visit to Smeatharpe Stadium, but faced a difficult evening's racing on a track that was exceedingly slippery on account of the races for the Bangers combined with the unhelpful weather conditions.
Having enjoyed a highly successful trip to St Day the previous month, 133 Jody Jeanes continued to put an authoritative stamp on the races for the non-contact class. Despite having been upgraded to blue since his success in Cornwall, Jeanes swiftly showed he was the man to beat by storming to victory in the opening heat. Star graders 445 Niki Loader and 278 Andrew Bressington finished second and third respectively. Early leader 118 Iain Truman stayed out front for longer in heat two, but Jeanes was still in command before the halfway point. This time Bressington and Loader swapped places as they finished second and third. In the final, Truman led from 61 Beth Stevenson, but by the time Jeanes came charging to the front, it was 112 Rich James who emerged in second place. Jeanes sealed his hat-trick of wins, James held on as the runner-up and Loader completed the top three. Jeanes was offered double prize money if he could make it four from four in the Allcomers race, but on the proviso that he started from the rear of the grid. He gallantly took up the challenge, but despite overhauling seven other drivers, fifth was as high as he got by the time the chequered fell on James, who won ahead of 6 Tim Bristow, to finally end the winning sequence of the impressive Jeanes.